


A Painting of a Sorrow

by Lanerose



Series: Lane's Yuri!!! On Ice Fics [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gratuitous Use of Foreign Languages, Jossed, M/M, Mixed Media, Multimedia, Social Media, Started Pre-Episode 10, Texting, The Author Has No Regrets About Being Jossed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-01 06:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8612995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: Victor finds something worth leaving St. Petersburg for.Or, the AU where the banquet didn't happen the way it did in canon, and instead, Victor is so salty about his complete lack of decent competition that he decides to train someone up himself.





	1. Chapter One

_The most surprising thing I could do now_ , Victor thinks bitterly as he stands alone again atop the award platform for his fifth straight World Championship, _is lose_.

            Yakov greets him as he comes off the ice with a firm nod, escorting him to the press conference where he sits between Chris and JJ.

            “What did you think of today’s performance, Coach Feltsman?” asks one intrepid reporter.

            “Victor’s technique is unparalleled,” Yakov’s gruff voice replies sincerely. Tomorrow, it will be written in papers around the world as a well-earned compliment, but after a decade together, Victor has no trouble telling when he is being damned with faint praise. 

            Every question that Victor is asked is some variation on the same theme: “What’s next for Victor Nikiforov?” 

            “Wait and see,” he replies, with a laughing smile. Tomorrow, he will see his own empty eyes in the pictures and think, _Yakov’s right to say that my performance needs work_.

            He wants to be surprising. He wants to lose. Yakov takes one look at him when he arrives at the rink early the next day and sends him straight home.

            “Just for today, Vitya,” he says, shoving him out the door. “You’re not here to work, and I don’t let skaters with that mindset onto my ice. I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow. 

            So he goes home and curls up on the couch with Makkachin, trying not to think about how he’s becoming the clichéd lonely god of the figure skating world. He needs to _lose_.

            The problem is how he should lose. Not through injury - he's not quite that masochistic yet, and has done it by accident once already anyway. And not through any deliberate failure of his own. His pride resists the idea too strongly for him to deliberately throw a competition. But then how?

            Chris is never going to be good enough, that much is clear - he's been losing to Victor by more than 30 points all season. Not surprising, given how one note he is - all of his skating tends toward the lewd, and that kind of constant appeal quickly tilts from surprising to vulgar. His performance scores will never be high enough to compete properly, even if his technique were up to par, which it often is not.

            There's little Yuri, he supposes, but perhaps not. If anything, this season has shown that he's little better than Chris - excellent from a technical perspective, but ultimately one-note. He won’t be worth competing with until he learns that performance is as important as technique. No comment by Victor to this effect has been heeded, because "what does it matter if I won, Victor?"

            Victor had even gone out of his way and promised to choreograph Yuri’s senior debut if he competed without quads in the hopes that being limited to triples would force Yuri to learn more expression. It’s a source of bitter disappointment to him that the other juniors were too weak to make performance skills a necessity. Yuri fulfilled the technical requirements of that promise, so Victor’s been planning a debut that will demand performance if Yuri wants to win, choosing music he knows Yuri will hate and a theme Yuri won’t understand to force Yuri to develop if he can or live with the same disappointment he’s become to Victor. Most likely, Yuri might learn once Victor starts crushing him into the ground when they compete, but probably not in time for next season.

            He's still mulling the whole situation over when the notifications start going off that some Japanese skater tried to skate his Stay Close to Me program. He vaguely recognizes the name, in that I've-heard-this-somewhere-before way, but he can't place it. As the video plays, he recognizes the skater from that year’s Grand Prix Finals. Katsuki Yuuri had been a mess, falling twice during his free skate, and Victor remembers wondering just how weak the competition had been at Skate America and the NHK Cup that year for him to have made the finals. And he’d turned down Victor’s offer of a picture, too! Victor couldn’t recall that ever having happened with fellow competitors or fans previously.

            The program Katsuki Yuuri skates is almost identical to Victor’s program, except that the quads have been replaced with triples in deference to the Japanese skater’s technical ability. It gives the opening less punch, with the less impressive jumps at the front. The step sequence is well-done, though, and Victor wonders a little less about how he qualified for the Grand Prix Finals. _Ah_ , he thinks _, confidence issues_. He’s seen them destroy skaters before – so that’s what the implosion at the Grand Prix had been about.

            What makes him sit up and take notice is the end of the program. Victor made the quad toe loop – triple toe loop his last jumps for both the technical points and the surprise value of having such a tricky combination at the end. Even still, it had been rough every time. Katsuki Yuuri, though – he throws the jumps effortlessly, without even the telltale lines of stress that Victor knows showed in his own jaw every time he finished the program. He’s barely breathing hard when the performance is finished, and he is smiling at a woman the camera captured briefly earlier in the program.

            Victor starts the video over again.

            The second time through, he notices something he should have picked up on the first time – that all of the movements are about a half a second ahead of the music. _Oh_ , he thinks, _the music wasn’t playing when he skated_. The skater is never out of time, even without the music.

            He starts the video a third time, turning off the sound so that he can marvel anew at the way he can hear it anyway in his mind’s ear. Katsuki’s technique is rough in places, but what does that matter? Technique can be taught. Performance comes from the soul, and it’s oozing from every one of Katsuki Yuuri’s pores as he plays the role of a man pleading for his lover to stay by his side.

            Victor closes the browser and opens the text app on his phone, intending to send a quick message saying how well he thinks the program was skated, and promptly remembers that because Yuuri turned down his offer of a picture, he hasn’t got any of his contact information. He turns to google instead, thinking to hit him up on social media, but the only thing that comes up are the video of him performing Stay Close to Me and links about his most recent performance at the Japanese nationals (worse than his performance at the Grand Prix Finals, apparently, finishing below the top juniors among others). Many suggest with concern that he may be thinking of retiring, and an unexpected urgency grabs hold of Victor. 

            Katsuki Yuuri might not be his equal yet, but of the available competition, he seems like the only one with a chance. He can’t be allowed to retire without giving Victor the competition they deserve.

            Victor goes back to his contacts list. He has half a memory of Chris Giacometti slinging a friendly arm around Yuuri’s shoulders after his debacle of a free skate, so he figures he might as well start there. 

Chris G.  
  
**Victor:** Hi Chris!  
  
**Chris:** Victor! Missing me already?  
  
**Chris:** You know you're always welcome to come train with me here in Switzerland.  
  
**Victor:** I know. :)  
  
**Victor:** Hey, I had a question. You know Yuuri Katsuki, right?  
  
**Chris:** Ah, we met at last year's Skate America. I saw that he skated your FS - not bad!!!  
  


Chris G.  
  
**Victor:** Right??  
  
**Victor:** Listen, do you know how I can get in contact with him?  
  
**Chris:** Sorry, I don't.  
  
**Chris:** He's the type to keep his details to himself.  
  
**Chris:** You might try Phichit - you have his contact info, right?  
  
**Chris:** They're rinkmates - or were, I guess?  
  
**Victor:** All right, I'll try Phichit. Thanks Chris!  
  
**Chris:** Any time!  
  


            Victor closes his texts and switches to Instagram. He knows Phichit in passing from competing at Skate Canada last year and a couple of other events – well enough to follow each other on Insta, but not well enough to have his number to hand, so direct messenger it is.

 

 **Conversation with Phichit Chulanot**

**v-nikiforov:**   Phichit! Hi!!

 **phichit+chu:** !!!

 **phichit+chu:** victor! hello!

 **v-nikiforov:**   It’s been a while – how are you?

 **phichit+chu:** good, u?

 **v-nikiforov:**   Good, good. Listen, someone told me that you might know how I can get in touch with Katsuki Yuuri?

 **phichit+chu:** ….

 **phichit+chu:** ….

 **v-nikiforov:**   it’s not anything weird! I just saw the video of him doing my FS and wanted to give him some tips! I promise I’m not mad, if that’s what you’re worried about – he was excellent!

 **phichit+chu:** ….

 **phichit+chu:** … i guess i can give you his number or his mail, but jfyi, he hasn’t been answering anyone for a while

 **v-nikiforov:**   ???

 **phichit+chu:** it’s nothing personal, but sometimes he just… won’t answer? ciao ciao says he “goes dark,” tho i dunno wth that means.

 **phichit+chu:** and like, that’s with ppl he likes. not that he doesn’t like you, just idk if he’ll even read a message from an unknown #, esp. since his dog died right before the gpf and he hasn’t really answered anyone’s mails since, incl. me  & ciao ciao

 **v-nikiforov:**   …

 

            Victor stares at his screen. Yuuri’s not even answering his coach? Makkachin whines, places a paw insistently over Victor’s heart. 

            “You’re absolutely right, Makkachin,” Victor says, petting her with the hand that is not holding his phone. He gives her several long strokes, then goes back to typing.

 

 **v-nikiforov:**   So if I wanted to go visit him in person to make sure he got my message, where would I go?

 **v-nikiforov:**   you can tell me, right?

 **phichit+chu:** his family runs a hot springs in hasetsu, jpn, idk the address but shouldn’t be hard to find

 **phichit+chu:** just…

 

            There is a very long pause, and eventually, Victor runs out of patience.

 

 **v-nikiforov:**   just?

 **phichit+chu:** nm. but if u upset him, i'll find a way to take revenge for him!

 **v-nikiforov:**   Okay, thanks

 

            _Yuuri is lucky to have such a good friend_ , Victor thinks fondly as he closes the app and starts googling hot springs in Hasetsu. Fate is on his side – there’s only one, and the website even mentions that the Katsuki family runs it. 

            He buys plane tickets and packs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza for their excellent guide on making text messages on AO3, which I am switching over to because Photobucket has become miserable.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This chapter contains foreign languages. If you don't speak Russian or Japanese, place your mouse over the text and the translation should pop up - that is, there's hover text, not click-and-pop-up text, if that makes sense. ETA: Interestingly, on an iPad, the way to get the text to show up is to click like you're going to save the image, and it pops up as the title of the image. This should work on phones, but someone please check me because my phone is an antique Blackberry and doesn't work like that (replacing it on Thursday! =D). If the text still doesn't show, please let me know something is wrong with my coding! OTL. While it's still uncertain, I'm putting translations in the end notes, so worst case scenario, they're available.
> 
> Related warning! I made pretty liberal use of various online sites to do these translations, since I speak neither Russian nor Japanese. ^^;;; If you speak one of them and I've said something nonsensical, please let me know that, too, lol.

            The first thing Victor does when he arrives in Japan is get Makkachin out of her crate.

            “I’m sorry you were stuck in there for so long,” Victor says as she scrambles out, Victor petting her and longing for the days when she was small enough to travel in the cabin with him. “Welcome to Japan, Makkachin!”

            She licks his face and then heads for a nearby section of grass, Victor keeping a careful eye on her even as he checks his phone. The global SIM card that he’s had for years thankfully has no trouble connecting to Japan’s local networks, and his inbox promptly floods. He eyes it for a moment, then decides to start by getting a more general feel for peoples’ reactions by checking the internet before he tries to figure out who he’s going to actually need to answer (hopefully, no one). He opens his browser and surfs to the GB homepage where he is, as usual, in the headlines:

            Victor skims the article, and takes Georgi off the list of people who are going to get a reply. _They couldn’t have used a better photo?_ Victor mentally complains, although there’s something a bit lost in his expression that may have been what they were going for.

            “Rrowff,” says Makkachin quietly, sitting on the ground beside him. Victor attaches Makkachin’s leash and begins the unfortunately long search for a cab driver willing to take him and his dog to their destination. The drivers at the airport don’t recognize him, which is good (because anonymity!) but troublesome (because no special treatment). Eventually, Makkachin is curled up on the backseat beside him and they are bound for Hasetsu. Victor opens his text messages, scrolling to the earliest new message so he can read them in order.

            Victor stares at the last message for several minutes, then exits his text app without replying to any of them. For the rest of the drive, he stares out the car window, absently petting Makkachin as the world slips by.

            It’s mid-afternoon when Victor and Makkachin arrive at the Yu-topia Katsuki. Victor notes with chagrin that the snow appears to have followed them from Russia. The Yu-topia Katsuki onsen is a two-story building in a traditional Japanese style, surrounded by a large, fenced-off courtyard. Victor has only ever stayed in hotels in major cities, so it’s a nice change of pace. He opens the door and Makkachin bounds in, pausing to shake off the snow.

             “Vicchan, お客さんに迷惑をかけないで!" a short, somewhat plump woman with ruddy brown hair calls as she hurries into the main room, bowing to him in greeting.

“Ah, sorry,” Victor replies, bowing back. “Please forgive Makkachin.”

            “Makka – “ The woman looks at him for a long moment, then at Makkachin, then back again. She sighs. “No, I’m sorry. She looks just like our Vicchan, who passed away last December, and I forgot for a moment that he wasn’t here.”

            “It’s no problem,” Victor replies as they both walk to what clearly serves as the check-in desk. _Vicchan, it sounds almost like -_. “Is Vicchan short for something?”

            The woman gives him a smile and doesn’t respond as she slips around a wall and re-enters the area behind the desk through an open door.

            “Welcome to the Yu-topia Katsuki,” she says, bowing once more. “How can I help you?”

            “Actually,” Victor says, “I was hoping to speak to Katsuki Yuuri-san.”

            “Eh, Yuuri-kun?” She looks at him a bit more sharply. “And what do you want with my son, Mr. Nikiforov?”

            Victor blushes. Her son is a skater who seems to have acquired and named his poodle after him. Of course she knows who he is. Of course. “Well, that is, I –“

            “Ah, Vicchan!” calls a warm male voice. Makkachin barks, and Victor turns his head to look at a man who must be Katsuki Yuuri’s father, and who, just like Katsuki’s mother, stares at Makkachin for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh. He turns to Victor and bows, saying, “Sorry to have startled you.”

            “It’s no problem,” Victor replies. He looks back and forth between the Katsukis. Yuuri’s mother is smiling, but that only makes her look a bit like a shark.

            “Eh, お母さん、タオルが出て – " says a younger female voice that cuts off abruptly. A blonde woman – clearly an employee of the inn and judging by her face a member of the Katsuki family – is staring at him. “その人は勇利の壁の写真に写っている人じゃない?"

            Yuuri’s mother smiles more widely and his father laughs. The family look at each other a moment longer, then back at him. Victor bows to them all as Katsuki’s mother did to him earlier. “Good afternoon. My name is Victor Nikiforov. I have come to be your son’s coach.”

            The Katsuki family stares at him in silence. Mr. and Mrs. Katsuki exchange a look. Victor keeps smiling, pretending to more confidence than he actually feels.

            “Yuuri’s in his room right now,” Mrs. Katsuki says eventually. “Why don’t you try the hot springs while you wait, and we’ll close the other fence and let Makka – was it Makkachin? – play in the yard.”

            Victor makes a half-hearted attempt at a protest – a bath sounds amazing right now – but is promptly ushered towards the springs. He strips and showers quickly. It’s clear now that Yuuri is a big fan of Victor, if all of his family can recognize him. _But then why didn’t he want a picture at the Grand Prix Finals? Was he too busy being upset about his dog?_ The loss of Makkachin is unthinkable, so maybe. Victor tosses his towel over the edge of the pool, stepping into the onsen and feeling the warmth seep into his bones. Something isn’t adding up; he’ll have to think carefully about what exactly to say to make Yuuri accept him as his coach.

            Victor has just started to feel the cold retreat from his bones when the door bursts open and Yuuri Katsuki stands before him, demanding, “why are you here?”

            _So much for thinking carefully about what to say_. Perhaps he should have expected this – that expression on his mother’s face was not the expression of someone who was going to make his life easy. Victor forces back a sigh and decides to go with the tactic that’s always worked for him in the past: telling other people how things are going to be and then expecting the world to conform to his expectations. He pulls the towel off his head, thinking to hold it strategically in front of his junk but resigning himself to being exposed in the name of a good pose. He’s never had complaints about him being naked before, anyway.

            “Yuuri, starting today, I’m your coach. I’ll make you win the Grand Prix Final.” And he winks.

            Yuuri stares at him for a long moment. He blinks a couple of times, and then says, “Huh. Well. I’ll. That’s. I’ll. Just. I’ll. I’ll let you finish your bath!”

            And then he’s gone, as quickly as he appeared. Victor runs a hand through his hair and sinks back into the warm waters of the onsen. No point in giving chase now. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.

            Now that he’s seen what he’s working with, Victor can't decide if he's more impressed that Yuuri managed a quad-triple in such a state, horrified that he's in such a state, or alarmed that he attempted that combination while so far out of shape. The rumors about him quitting must be true. Nothing else explains both his condition and the sheer carelessness Yuuri has shown by forcing his out-of-condition body through maneuvers that could have left him seriously injured, even if they went right. A skater’s effective weight on landing is eight times their weight standing still – every extra ounce adds to the risk of stress fractures. Victor can’t wait the year it will take for Yuuri to heal from an injury, assuming it would even be possible. For his own good, Yuuri needs to be kept off the ice – or at the very least, kept away from jumps – until he’s back in decent shape.

            When he’s done with the bath, Victor wanders out into the main room and feigns sleep with Makkachin beside him as Yuuri chats with a woman he will identify (once he opens his eyes) as the former prima ballerina Minako Okukawa. Yuuri speaks to her with a quiet ease that suggests long familiarity. _So he’s classically trained. Is this the source of his musicality?_ His stomach rumbles, and Victor “wakes up” and asks to eat Yuuri’s favourite food.

            _Delicious_ , is Victor’s first thought, followed immediately by, _Yuuri’s got taste._ But then, he’s a fan of Victor’s – of course he has taste.

            After dinner, Victor winds up with Makkachin and Yuuri in the room that Victor’s going to stay in while they’re in Japan. He hasn’t made his mind up yet on how long that’s going to be. It was necessary to come here to get the skater. Google has told him that Yuuri spent time training in the United States under Cialdini, so maybe it would be best to take Yuuri if not back to the United States, at least out of Japan.

            “Yuuri,” he says with all the superficial charm that has gotten him so many dates and lovers, “tell me everything about you. What kind of rink do you skate at? What’s in this city? Is there a girl you like? Before we start practicing, let’s build some trust in our relationship.“

            _How did he get over there?_ Victor blinks, staring at Yuuri, who is now in the hall and flushed bright red.

            “What? Why are you running away?” He asks, surprising himself with sincerity.

            “It’s nothing,” Yuuri says, but that’s clearly not true. “I’ll. Just. I’ll. Let you unpack.”

            And then he’s gone.

            Yuuri’s nervous – especially his nervousness in terms of being physically close to Victor – is going to be a problem, and one that Victor frankly doesn’t have the patience to deal with. _I’ll just have to desensitize him to it by being in contact so much that he stops thinking about it_ , Victor resolves. _Maybe send Makkachin in, too._ That had worked for him, after all, and Yuuri’s likely to be comfortable around dogs after having owned one for so many years. Victor grabs his phone to make a quick check for any new messages, with only one of note:

            He’ll give Plisetsky this – no one will ever accuse him of impersistence. Victor plugs his phone in and gets to work unpacking. He gets bored halfway through, and decides to see if he can’t sneak into Yuuri’s bed for the night to avoid having to make up his own. The door remains firmly shut in his face.

            “You still love me, right, Makkachin?” Victor asks as he finally figures out how the futon works.

            “Rrowff!” Makkachin replies enthusiastically. She’s already in his bed by the time he turns off the light, lifting her head sleepily to look at him until he joins her.

            Tomorrow, they’ll go to Yuuri’s rink so that Victor can get a feel for everything he’s working with here. It’s probably best to plan on staying until he has a good reason to leave, even if Hasetsu seems like a bit of a backwater.

            Victor stops. When was the last time he was truly excited for tomorrow? He sighs – however long it’s been, it’ll be at least one more day.

            _Why is everything so hard?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While translation issues are still happening, here are some translations!
> 
> Text Messages with Mila  
> Mila: Vitya, are you okay?  
> Mila: Yakov just ran off screaming something about you and the airport.  
> Mila: Please, call me."
> 
> Text Messages with Georgi  
> Georgi: Have a safe trip!
> 
> Text Messages with Yuri (Morning/Afternoon)  
> Yuri: oi, Victor!  
> Yuri: where are you?  
> Yuri: what the fuck?  
> Yuri: are you fucking crazy?  
> Yuri: Don't give up on ice skating!  
> Yuri: Where are you?!?!
> 
> Text Messages with Yakov  
> Yakov: Call me when you’re ready to come home."
> 
> Vicchan, お客さんに迷惑をかけないで! = Vicchan, stop bothering the guests!
> 
> お母さん、タオルが出て – = Mom, we're out of towels -
> 
> その人は勇利の壁の写真に写っている人じゃない? = Isn’t that the guy in the pictures on Yuuri’s walls?
> 
> Text Messages with Yuri (Evening)  
> Yuri: Oi, Victor, did you forget your promise to me??  
> Yuri: What are you even doing in Japan?  
> Yuri: Why are you wasting time on the other Yuri?  
> Yuri: Victor, come home.  
> Yuri: if you don’t come home I’m going to find you  
> Yuri: I’m serious, Victor.  
> Yuri: VICTOR!!!
> 
> \-------------------  
> So people were split after the last chapter as to whether the iPhone images thing worked or didn't work. In the absence of a consensus, I've decided to go with what I like best personally, so I'm keeping them. If I ever figure out how to do a poll on AO3, we can do a poll and I'll go with the results, but for now, please don't hate me for doing it this way. In deference to readers with visual issues, I'm trying to put in proper alt text / titles, but please let me know if the content's not coming through.
> 
> I also put a template of the Golden Blades webpage up on Tumblr [here](http://lanerose23.tumblr.com/post/153631532802/fic-preview), and anyone who's interested in writing multimedia fic and doesn't want to be bothered making up their own fake website is absolutely welcome to use mine, because making that image took way longer than it should have. XDDD
> 
> For anyone curious, the rating went up because Yurio has a foul mouth. It may increase again, we'll see.
> 
> As always, concrit is super welcome, since this story is totally out of my usual wheelhouse! Thanks for reading!!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> This story is super experimental for me, so concrit is totally welcome and appreciated!


End file.
